Data networks contain various network devices, such as switches, for sending and receiving data between two locations. For example, frame relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (“ATM”) networks contain interconnected network devices that allow data packets or cells to be channeled over a circuit through the network from a host device to a remote device. For a given network circuit, the data from a host device is delivered to the network through a physical circuit such as a T1 line that links to a switch of the network. The remote device that communicates with the host through the network also has a physical circuit to a switch of the network. A network circuit also includes a logical circuit which includes a variable communication path for data between the switches associated with the host and the remote device.
In large-scale networks, the host and remote end devices of a network circuit may be connected across different local access and transport areas (“LATAs”) which may in turn be connected to one or more Inter-Exchange Carriers (“IEC”) for transporting data between the LATAs. These connections are made through physical trunk circuits utilizing fixed logical connections known as Network-to-Network Interfaces (“NNIs”). For example, a network circuit from Birmingham to Miami may have connections from a host device in the Birmingham LATA to an IEC and then from the IEC to a remote device in the Miami LATA.
Periodically, failures may occur to the trunk circuits or the NNIS of network circuits in large-scale networks causing lost data. Currently, such network circuit failures are handled by dispatching technicians on each end of the network circuit (i.e., in each LATA) in response to a reported failure. The technicians manually access a logical element module to troubleshoot the logical circuit portion of the network circuit. The logical element module communicates with the switches in the data network and provides the technician with the status of the logical connections which make up the logical circuit. Once the technician determines the status of a logical connection at one end of a logical circuit (e.g., the host end), the technician then must access a network database to determine the location of the other end of the logical circuit so that its status may also be ascertained. If the technician determines the logical circuit is operating properly, the technician then accesses a physical element module to troubleshoot the physical circuit portion of the network circuit to determine the cause of the failure and then repair it.
In order to reduce downtime associated with repairing network circuits, some network circuit providers offer network circuit customers a “backup service” plan. Currently, these backup service plans include providing a backup or standby physical circuit between a host device and a remote device for manually rerouting data from one or more failed logical circuits in a data network, until the primary network circuit has been repaired. However, current backup services provided by network circuit providers do not offer backup logical circuits provisioned over the backup physical circuit prior to a network circuit failure. Thus, a backup logical circuit must be manually provisioned over the backup physical circuit after a failure is determined, before logical circuit data may be rerouted from the failed network circuit. This provisioning process increases the time it will take to reroute the logical circuit data over the backup logical circuits. Moreover, logical circuits designated for backup service are identified by “services names” rather than the logical circuit identifiers typically required to identity and reroute logical circuits in a data network. As a result, prior to rerouting data from an affected logical circuit, a technician must manually access a network database to determine the logical circuit identifier associated with the circuit's “services name,” thereby further increasing the time before logical circuit data may be rerouted.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.